The sailors of the Marine City United Methodist Church donated a large stained glass showing Jesus walking on water. / BOB GROSS/TIMES HERALD

The Marine City United Methodist Church is closing Jan. 31. / BOB GROSS/TIMES HERALD

The Marine City United Methodist Church is closing Jan. 31. / BOB GROSS/TIMES HERALD

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MARINE CITY — Members of the congregation at Marine City United Methodist Church can be forgiven if there were a few tears on Christmas.

After being a presence for 162 years in Marine City’s spiritual community, the church was to be host to its final Christmas service.

The church is closing.

It will have its final service Jan. 26, and the doors of the red brick building at North Main and Broadway will shut for good Jan. 31.

“My parents were married here, I was married here, my son was married here,” said Darlene Markel, a church member who lives in Cottrellville Township. “I was baptized here, my son was baptized here and my grandchildren were baptized here.”

The church’s membership has declined from a high of 650 to 700 in the 1950s — when its services were broadcast on the radio — to the current roster of 56 people.

“That’s total membership, including shut-ins and people who don’t live in the area but are still members,” said Harvey Finsterwald of Marine City and a church member with his wife, Chris.

Bob Rhoades, a church member and Marine City resident, said the declining membership is a trend.

“The younger people are not joining anything, churches, social clubs ... so as the older members are dying off, the membership is shrinking,” Rhoades said.

Marine City United Methodist had 124 members as recently as 2001, said Chris Finsterwald. Now, “the average age is in the 70s,” she said.

The church doesn’t have a full-time minister. The Rev. Carol Floyd, a retired Methodist minister, works 10 hours per week, split between Sunday and Tuesday morning.

According to a history of the church, the first Methodist Episcopal Society in Marine City was organized in 1851.

“We have a historical deed that is dated 1851,” Rhoades said. “The city was Newport at the time.”

The current building was constructed in 1905. It includes several magnificent stained-glass windows, including one that was donated by sailors in the congregation and depicts Jesus walking on water.

“We did work on the stained glass twice,” Rhoades said. “One of the things, being an old building, if you do a lot of pounding, it opens up seams in the stained glass.”

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He said construction of a streetscape on Broadway and work on city’s historic city hall both took their toll on the stained-glass windows.